Routine comes down like twilight on a harsh landscape,
softening it until it is tolerable. The complexity is too subtle, too varied;
the values are changing utterly with each lesion of vitality; it has begun to
appear that we can learn nothing from the past with which to face the future —
so we cease to be impulsive, convincible men, interested in what is ethically
true by fine margins, we substitute rules of conduct for ideas of integrity, we
value safety above romance, we become, quite unconsciously, pragmatic.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
The other day, Mrs H had to contact our GP surgery because
of an intermittent issue which requires a prescription. She made contact
through an online system, was phoned by a doctor within a couple of hours and the same afternoon I
collected the prescription which had been transmitted electronically to the pharmacist.
The smooth competence of the overall routine was mostly down
to computer systems which even in the past decade or so have been improved,
sorted and extended. This appears to be one of the major gains from
computers – sorted routines rather than artificial intelligence. Maybe this is
the real monster.
In a technical sense the doctor could have been any doctor
anywhere in the world, although for that to happen we would need global
integrity as well as global computer routines. Maybe that will come over time as we
substitute rules of conduct for ideas of integrity.
Ah yes – rules of conduct. That one moves us on from Mrs H
contacting our GP surgery to the coronavirus debacle. As we know, the UK Coronavirus
Act 2020 was recently passed by 484 votes to 76, a majority of 408. By a huge majority MPs voted to extend government control over all aspects of our lives.
As
things stand, this implies some permanent level of routine control over all aspects of our lives. Sorted computer routines are already being embedded in the
process. Those which are not yet sorted will be sorted one way or another and vast numbers of voters are
likely to be quite happy with that.
Routine comes down like twilight on a
harsh landscape, softening it until it is tolerable. And it will be
tolerable – for most.
4 comments:
Many years ago I worked for a chap who sold vacuum cleaner and washing machine spares. He announced that he was going to buy into computerised sales. When we questioned the outlay he said "it's a licence to print money". "People at the counter are always complaining about my prices: if the computer says that's the price, they won't". Sure enough he went ahead with the computerised till and put his prices up slightly. Nobody complained . . .
These new control measures work the same way.
Sorted routines is where it's at, unfortunately. Once routines are sorted, no human intervention is required. My own little anecdote is that I have a repeat prescription for a neuropathy condition. When my tablets are running low, I toggle a couple of boxes on the Health Centre's website, and three days later the new tablets await my collection. Utterly marvellous, really. All credit to all concerned.
The only trouble is, I can't get to talk to a doctor about whether I need the tablets, or another sort, or what the side effects are, or whether I can have alternative treatments. In fact, no doctor anywhere in the world ever thinks about me or my problems...
I suppose when we were all kids, we accepted the rules, as laid down by parents, then got older, and rebelled, then probably got back into a routine where we used the same rules as taught us, and now don't even notice how we do it!
What I don't like is the relentless force-feeding of woke ideas to try and change what we've always believed, and how to deal with issues which to some are difficult, but awful organisations like the BBC are trying their hardest at the moment, so they get ignored, and will probably get rebelled against soon, rather like the old days!
Jannie - that's my concern. In some cases, once the easy routines that just work are established, alternatives may disappear completely. People won't even speculate about alternatives.
Sam - I'm in a similar situation with routine medical supplies. Click, click and they arrive but I haven't seen a doctor about my condition for years. Only a tickbox hospital scan once a year.
Scrobs - I don't like the relentless force-feeding of woke ideas either. It may be merely fashions of the times and fashions do change. These seem particularly harmful though.
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